Cardano fees covered just 0.7% of staking rewards as transactions fall 72%
Cardano collected 3.3 million ADA in transaction fees whereas recording 493.7 million ADA in staking rewards throughout the 73 epochs ending Sept. 1, 2026, in keeping with Bitquery’s full-chain depend. Fees covered about 0.668% of rewards, leaving the reward whole roughly 149.6 occasions bigger than price income.
The figures flip Cardano’s fee-replacement query right into a measured financial hole. Planned upgrades might give the community sufficient throughput to course of much more exercise, whereas sustainable staking rewards nonetheless depend upon purposes and customers producing considerably extra price income.
Cardano’s fee-reward hole spans two measurement home windows
The Bitquery analysis counted Cardano transactions from the community’s first block and grouped the newest reward comparability into 73 five-day epochs from Sept. 1, 2025, by means of Sept. 1, 2026.
Its 3.3 million ADA price whole amounted to about one ADA for each 150 ADA in staking rewards. Reserve emissions equipped the dominant share of the reward financial system in the course of the interval.
Cardano’s epoch 655 supply page affords a shorter official snapshot. It attributed 108,500 transactions and 33,855 ADA in fees to accomplished epoch 654. Spread throughout 5 days, that was about 21,700 transactions per day, or 0.251 transactions per second. Fees equaled about 0.339% of roughly 9.998 million ADA in distributed rewards for the epoch.
The one-epoch snapshot makes use of a special reward denominator from Bitquery’s 12-month staker whole, so the chances should not instantly interchangeable. Each window however locations transaction fees at effectively beneath 1% of its respective reward measure.
| Measure | Observed worth | Economic sign |
|---|---|---|
| Fees, 73 epochs | 3.3 million ADA | Network price income |
| Staking rewards, 73 epochs | 493.7 million ADA | About 149.6 occasions fees |
| Average each day transactions | 90,294 in 2022; 24,869 in 2026 | A 72.46% decline |
| Bot share of transactions | 11.5% in 2022; 32.8% in 2026 | Automated exercise grew to become a bigger half of the smaller whole |
| Reserve, epoch 655 | 6.127 billion ADA | 13.62% of the 45 billion ADA most provide |
| Share of circulating ADA staked | 75.6% at end-2022; 58.3% in 2026 | Participation declined alongside exercise |
The long-window transaction depend additionally factors to weaker demand. Cardano averaged 90,294 transactions per day in 2022. From January by means of August 2026, the typical was 24,869, a decline of 72.46%.
Activity composition modified on the identical time. Bitquery categorised wallets sending at the very least 3,000 transactions in a month as bots until their habits resembled an trade. Under that methodology, bots’ share of transactions rose from 11.5% in 2022 to 32.8% in 2026, with batchers forming the most important recognized bot subgroup.
Those counts describe on-chain actions relatively than distinctive folks. One bot can submit hundreds of transactions, whereas a decentralized exchange batcher can course of orders for a lot of clients. A contemporary Cardano wallet can use a number of addresses tied to 1 stake key, and a holder who stakes ADA with out shifting it stays absent from a depend of sending wallets.
The transaction decline nonetheless issues for price income as a result of each motion creates a chance to pay a price. It can not reveal how many individuals left, remained lively or delegated their cash.
Bitquery additionally measured a decline within the share of circulating ADA staked, from 75.6% on the finish of 2022 to 58.3% within the final epoch of its research interval. That is a participation measure. The cited proof incorporates no direct security-outcome metric, so it can not help a declare that community safety has already deteriorated.
The reserve creates runway as its contribution declines
Cardano’s epoch 655 knowledge confirmed 6,126,859,027 ADA left in reserves, equal to 13.62% of the community’s 45 billion ADA most provide.
The reserve is designed to shrink. Under Cardano’s monetary policy, transaction fees and 0.3% of the remaining reserve enter a digital pot every epoch. The treasury receives 20% of that pot, and the steadiness is offered for stake rewards, topic to pool efficiency. Unclaimed rewards stay within the reserve.
Applying a set proportion to the remaining steadiness produces exponential decay. Cardano’s documentation describes a reserve half-life of roughly 4 to 5 years, with out setting a definitive exhaustion date.
That declining reserve contribution modifications the reward aspect of the equation. Nominal reward outlays can fall as emissions decline, which would scale back the price income wanted to match them. A decrease goal would nonetheless go away the community depending on actual financial exercise if fees are to interchange a bigger share of rewards.
Cardano’s fee structure gives one other variable. Current minimal fees mix a set part with a cost based mostly on transaction measurement, and protocol governance can change these parameters. Higher income per transaction would cut the hole with much less site visitors, though the value of block area may also affect demand.
Holding common fees fixed shifts the calculation towards exercise. Scaling the 2026 common of 24,869 each day transactions by the present 149.6 reward-to-fee ratio produces about 3.72 million transactions per day, or roughly 43.1 transactions per second.
That is a simplified gross state of affairs calculated earlier than the 20% treasury allocation. It is a translation of the measured hole, relatively than a forecast or a exact break-even level.
The 43.1 TPS illustration broadly aligns with CryptoSlate’s Sept. 8 model, which estimated that changing reserve-funded rewards might require roughly 36 to 50 sustained transactions per second. That mannequin positioned a central estimate close to 45 TPS after the treasury minimize.
Linear Leios is designed for throughput above that vary. The proposed CIP-164 specification fashions sustained capability above the simplified 43 TPS state of affairs, giving Cardano a believable technical path to course of the mandatory quantity.
Leios check outcomes go away the demand query open
Test outcomes deal with solely the capability aspect. Cardano reported roughly sixfold Leios efficiency in an August public testnet update, utilizing artificial site visitors. The outcome confirmed that the design might course of extra load underneath check circumstances. It equipped no proof that mainnet customers would generate sufficient exercise to multiply price income by roughly 150.
Deployment additionally stays forward. Intersect’s Dijkstra planning document targets code completion within the fourth quarter of 2026, excluding Preview and pre-production testing and governance time from that schedule. The mainnet hard-fork date stays undetermined.
The financial equation has a number of shifting components. More transactions and better common fees enhance the income aspect. Declining reserve emissions and decrease reward outlays scale back the quantity that fees would want to interchange. Leios enlarges Cardano’s processing capability, however adoption decides how a lot of that capability generates income.
For now, the measured distance is stark: 3.3 million ADA in fees in opposition to 493.7 million ADA in rewards. Leios might take away a technical ceiling, whereas Cardano’s bigger check is attracting sufficient paid exercise to show capability into sturdy community revenue.
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